Accounts opening abroad

Alliance Business Advisors shareholders’ long experience in the banking and financial sector provides the company established, reliable and trustworthy connections with top banks in the United Arab Emirates, Austria, Switzerland, England, Cyprus etc. When required, our consultants will help you to open an account not only in the United Arab Emirates, but also in reliable and highly reputable banks in other jurisdictions.

When setting up a company in UAE and in other jurisdictions, it is absolutely imperative to open an overseas bank account to ensure the functionality for business. It will allow you to manage your assets effectively whilst saving on taxes at the same time.

The proper choice of your bank is the first step towards your business success. Taking into consideration that every single bank is unique with various types of services ranging from classic Retail banking to full profile Corporate or Private banking, with different requirements on documentation, different minimal deposit amounts, different tariffs, specialization on particular economy sectors and countries / regions, etc. In view of the specificity and unique characteristics of every single bank, the opening of an overseas bank account is the most indispensable step when structuring your overseas business and doing your tax planning since this requires a thorough analysis and tailor-made approach in every single instance, as well as proper preparation of all documents requested by the bank.

When opening an overseas bank account, one is usually faced with the dilemma of having to choose between reputability and reliability of the bank and its requirements, since the more reputable and reliable the bank is, the more requirements it sets for the client. At the same time the requirements for an account opening are constantly changing and it gets more and more complicated. Hence, a seemingly simple task like opening a bank account overseas, without a thorough analysis of client’s needs in the first place can lead later to unexpected difficulties in workflow with the bank.

When making a decision about the account opening the following criteria are of paramount importance:

Political and economic stability of the country where the bank is located;

Reliability and reputability of the bank and its rating;

Set of the services offered by bank and whether they meet client’s needs;

Availability of additional services e.g. management of actives;

The necessary minimal deposit amount;

Requirements of the bank in terms of documentation to be provided by the customer;

Cost of banking services;

Availability of credit cards;

Interest rate offered for current and deposit accounts;

Availability of Internet banking;

Territorial availability of the bank and its branches.

Depending on requirements of each bank in some cases a personal meeting of a client with a bank representative prior to account opening might be necessary. Whereas in other banks an account can be opened without this personal meeting or with such a meeting taking place within some time frame after account opening.

The time period for opening an overseas bank account is subject to the internal policy of the bank of your choice, the completeness of the set of your documents and varies between 5 to 10 days to 1 month (including the time necessary for activation of internet banking access).

In spite of the fact that the requirements for client’s documentation differ from bank to bank, the basic documents package necessary for the bank is as follows:

For legal entities (companies):

The document confirming the identity of the ultimate beneficial owner of the company, its directors and any authorized account signatories (any person who will be acting/ signing on behalf of the company): i.e. passport;

The document confirming residential address of the beneficial owner and account signatories e.g. utility bill, copy of the internal passport with the page containing registration stamp (depending on bank);

Notarially certified and apostilled full set of incorporation documents i.e. Memorandum of Articles and Association, Certificate of Incorporation, First Minutes appointing director). In most cases one will also need a Certificate of Good Standing and Certificate of Incumbency. On top of this, if opening a non-resident corporate bank account in the UAE, the certification of documents by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates is required;

In case the signatory on the account is authorized to sign according to the power of attorney issued by the company, the notarially certified and apostilled copy of this power of attorney is required by the bank plus an appropriate resolution on its issue;

Client profile – bank will ask questions about the source of wealth, expected account activity, planned transactions etc. The number of questions is at bank’s discretion and the list of questions might be much longer depending on bank;

Also, depending on selected bank the following documents can be requested: letter of recommendation from other banks, in which the client has already an account; bank statement from existing account; company’s brochure and description of the company.

Client profile – bank will ask questions about the source of wealth, expected account activity, planned transactions etc. The number of questions is at bank’s discretion and the list of questions might be much longer depending on bank;

Also, depending on selected bank the following documents can be requested: letter of recommendation from the other bank, in which the client has already an account; bank statement from existing account.

Please note that even if you provide all the above listed documents it does not guarantee the opening of the account since banks consider every single client individually and always reserve the right at own discretion to reject the account opening.

Based on your individual preferences our team will provide you with a choice of the most reliable banks in economically and socially highly stable countries of the world. This will be carried out discreetly and we will perform all the necessary steps to open an overseas bank account including preparation of all required documents and, if needed, will provide you with a possibility of opening an overseas bank account without having to visit the bank personally.

If you wish to get an initial advice regarding an account opening process in an overseas bank please send us your request.